Steve Simms's Blog, page 209

Angry people aren’t very fun & rage is a goofy stage

When anger burns like fire and blows like a hurricane, a country is in trouble. Angry people aren’t very fun.

America’s experiencing nature’s furry in fires and storms and human rage from the White House to the streets. We need to disengage rage, before it’s too late! (Look at the past. People who rode rage, always crashed.)

To effectively communicate, take the shout out of your voice and disengage from rage. After all, rage is a goofy stage ( as a platform for speaking and/or a phase of life). If we turn the page on rage and engage each other with love and compassion, we can heal.

Taking offense lets your destructive emotions out of their fence. Best forgive. Rage is a cage that locks down the heart of the person who carries it. When you get mad at people, you acknowledge their ability to manipulate you.

Loathing is a heavy load, both for the loather and the lothees. Loathing is ugly clothing, but a smile is always in style. Loathing easily leaps into violence, but love likes to lead toward peace.

It’s sad that many people choose to be mad about what they don’t like, instead of glad about what they do. If you stay mad, you’ll stay sad. If you show love, you’ll rise above it like a dove. To get mad at someone for disagreeing with your opinion is arrogance.

Anger makes the human mind think irrationally. Volleys of anger kill the jollies of life. Cease fire! Escalate kindness to de-escalate conflict.

Anger creates tension. Widespread anger creates widespread tension. Peace please. To avoid getting mad, refuse to allow people’s words to make you mad. Instead of getting mad, try being merely miffed. Then you won’t wreck a relationship.

Anger turns conversation into conflict. It changes discussion into discord. We need love and kindness to lead our way. See: Off the RACE Track–From Color-Blind to Color-Kind.

[image error]

Christicism–be a Christic

Jesus said, “Leap for joy,” but many Christians just creep along. We need more Christicism–first-hand, mystical encounters with the living Jesus. Christology is the study of Christ. Christian mysticism (Christicism) is experiencing Him. I experience mystical encouragement as Jesus speaks within me. I find that I am strongest when I’m weak enough to surrender to Jesus.

To be with the living Jesus and in awe of Him, is the most amazing form of prayer. Beholding Jesus dispels indifference and compels awe and obedience. Behold the Lamb of God! If Jesus never causes you to say “Aha!” you may have replaced Him with religion. Christ demystified is Christ denied.

A Christic (Christian mystic) is someone who continually listens to and obeys the risen Jesus. A Christic follows Jesus supernaturally, not just intellectually. Jesus didn’t teach concepts unrelated to daily reality. Follow Him daily, not religion. A Christic experiences and obeys the living Jesus for real.

Many people avoid mystical experiences with the living Jesus, because of fear. Much of modern Christianity has been demystified & emptied of awe, leaving a mere shell.

Too much Christianity demonstrates verbal proclamation, but behavioral denial. Demystified Christianity is often dull, but “Christ in you” is continual adventure. For admission into great joy, let the living Jesus lead your into daily mission.

Christians are called to live in a Christocracy–under the direct Kingship of Jesus. Do you?

The biblical CRT — Christian Race Transformation

When people don’t feel like they matter, shower them with kindness, until they do. Love and kindness are the fruit of the Spirit. We can’t have biblical Christianity without them. What peace there would be if everyone who claims to love God, would love people.

If we don’t (or won’t) love people who offend us, we’ve settled for something less than biblical Christianity. Heartstemic racism can be overcome. Christ wants to set us all free from racial divisions, racial judgments, and racial unkindness. One of the most important things you can do in life is to show heart-felt love to people who have been made to feel like they don’t matter.

When differences are dispelled by love and daily diminish, that’s true, biblical diversity. The Bible says that Christians are from “every kindred and every tribe,” yet united in Christ. To see people but fail to perceive their pain, is to have what Jesus calls “a calloused heart.”

Jesus said that He found no one in Israel with a greater faith than a particular Roman centurion. Perhaps some of the people we look at as political “threats” are also people of great faith. The color that matters most: Are your sins covered with the red blood of Jesus?

Be hostile against any evil within you. Be kind to help other people overcome evil. Few people show hostility to gentle words; but many respond with hostility to insulting words.

Powerful ideas can be presented with gentleness. Weak ideas require aggression. Rude words are a jackhammer that demolishes the walkways between people.

Love’s not a whimsical feeling, but intentionally kind behavior. Explosive topics should be spoken of with gentleness, not with insults. Gentle words are much more easily heard & received than hostile, hateful words. It should be no surprise when reckless words create pain and retaliation. On the field of politeness, rude people lose every time.

If you want your pain to be taken seriously, perhaps you should take other people’s pain seriously as well. For my handbook on Christian Race Transformation, read: Off the RACE Track–From Color-Blind to Color-Kind.

Does Blackman history matter? (Living on Blackman Road)

My house is surrounded by forgotten history. It’s on Blackman Road in the middle of a former plantation. I live on (or near) land that was cleared and worked by black men, women, and children, who were held in a lifetime of forced labor and human trafficking, by Judge John Overton.

Judge Overton established much of Tennessee’s legal system. He was the lifelong best friend of President Andrew Jackson, who was a frequent visitor at Overton’s plantation house. Overton first called it Golgotha (which means place of a skull) because it was built in 1799 on an ancient burial ground and many skulls were unearthed during construction. Later he changed the name to Travelers Rest. I tell more about the Overton plantation in my book, Off the RACE Track.

Blackman Road comes to a dead end a few hundred feet before it reaches Travelers Rest. If you extended it, it would lead right to Overton’s mansion. Could Blackman Road have been the way slaves came and went? Could it have been the road to slave shacks? I haven’t been able to find the origin of the name anywhere. (Someone helped answer those questions by sending me an old newspaper article and a map that showed that Hays Blackman {1797-1873} had a plantation around what is now Blackman Road, that was adjacent to Overton’s land, prior to the Civil War. After he died, his son, Dr. Blackman inherited the land. Blackman Road was probably named for one or both of them.)

Another plantation that adjoined Overton’s land, (which is just a few blocks away from my house and I frequently walk to) is now called Ellington Agricultural Center. It’s owned by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. The main building there is a reproduction of The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s plantation house. It was built by a wealthy banker in 1928.

Prior to that, the land was a plantation owned by William Ewing and his family. They are buried in an old cemetery on the property (the first grave was in 1822). Some were Confederate soldiers. However, the Ewings and their plantation are a mystery. Although they were neighbors of John Overton, I haven’t been able to find anything about them on the internet or anywhere else, besides from the gravestones. Only silence. I often wonder why their stories (and the stories of their slaves) are lost to history.

My house on Blackman Road is also surrounded by three Civil War Battlefields. The Battle of Nashville was fought a few blocks west of here. During that battle, Overton’s Travelers Rest Mansion was the headquarters of Confederate General John Bell Hood. The Battle of Franklin about was fought about 10 miles south of here, and the Battle of Stones River about 30 miles southeast of here.

When I’m sitting on my deck, looking at my huge magnolia tree, it’s so peaceful here. It’s hard for me to imagine the bondage and cruelty that took place all around me.

I didn’t plan to live on Blackman Road. My previous house had been on the market for two years and wouldn’t sell. (Well, it did sell one time and my wife and I put a contract on another home, but our buyer backed out the night before closing.) When our previous home finally sold again, our realtor called me and said that she had found the house for us. She told me to get my wife and daughter and rush to Blackman Road because a house had just gone on the market and she was showing it to someone else.

When my wife, daughter, and I arrived at Blackman Road, we all really liked the house. Our realter said that the other guy was planning to put a contract on it, but she thought she could talk him into buying another house on a different street. So we immediately put in an offer. Our realtor said there were 3 other offers made that day, but the sellers accepted ours.

Then our realtor, with great astonishment, told us that something amazing had happened. She said that she had faxed (remember fax machines) our signed contract to the sellers’ agent. When that agent called our agent to accept the contract, she told our agent that her sellers would also pay the $4,000 toward our closing costs that we had requested. However, neither our agent or we ever requested that. Our agent just couldn’t understand how it happened. We told her it had to be God.

So now I live on Blackman Road. In reality I’ve been on black man road ever since I sold Ebony’s Pictorial History Of Black America door to door when I was in college. Spending 6 days a week hanging out with hundreds of amazing black people opened my heart to them. I’ve been on the road of love and respect for black men, women, and children ever since.

[image error]

Racial distancing (separating by color)

America’s history of racial distancing has left a legacy of divisiveness. Racial distancing is when you only open your heart to people who match your color. It involves avoiding, ignoring, or mistreating people who don’t look like you.

Separating by color isn’t just a matter of physical proximity. It’s done in the heart. Jim Crow laws separated people. Racial distancing keeps hearts apart. “Separate but equal” is a famous, racial distancing phrase in American legal history.

The distance between you and another person should never be based on skin color. To me racial distancing’s boring, but connecting across color lines, fun and inspiring.

The shortest racial distance between two people is a Christ-filled, heart connection. If churches would refuse to racial distance the way some refuse to social distance, we’d see revival.

Racism can be subtle, but racial distancing is obvious and apparent to any observer. It spreads misunderstanding and stereotypes. It hampers heart-felt equality. 

Separating by color and “liberty and justice for all,” are contradictions. People don’t eye-color distance. Why should we skin-color distance?

If we could fill in
The gaps in melanin
Equality would be revealing.

Racial distancing refuses to listen to people describe the pain that it has caused them. It usually denies that pain and blames the separation on other causes.

Tired of all the talk about racism? Perhaps we should shift the conversation to racial distancing instead. It’s greater wisdom to distance from people with destructive attitudes and behaviors, than from people with a different skin color than you.

It’s hard to ignore color, but when you connect with people’s humanity, color doesn’t matter and racial distancing vanishes. Racial distancing and color-kindness — you can’t do both at the same time. Search: Off the RACE Track From Color-Blind to Color-Kind.

Better than a sermon . . .

You don’t need to rely on secondhand info about Jesus. He’s talking to you directly.

I don’t understand why many Christians prefer to hear a preacher instead of reading the Bible and hearing God’s direct voice. If you would listen to and obey the voice of God speaking thru your conscience, that would do you more good than any sermon.

You’ll know Jesus better if you listen to Him directly, not just thru a preacher. Try it!

Everything you need to know about quenching the Spirit

When the fruit of the Spirit isn’t freely flowing from within, we’re quenching the Holy Spirit. Here’s how we do that.

Love: Self-focused Christians are shutting down the inner flow God’s love.Joy: Angry Christians are missing out on God’s joy. Peace: Worried Christians are dousing “the peace of God, which passes all understanding.” Patience: Frustrated Christians are turning off the flow of God’s patience. Kindness: Rude Christians are extinguishing God’s kindness within their own heart. Goodness: Disobedient Christians are refusing to let God’s goodness flow thru them. Faithfulness: Dishonest Christians are stopping God’s faithfulness from manifesting thru them. Gentleness: Harsh Christians are overriding God’s gentleness that is trying to come out of them. Self-control: Self-destructive Christians are ignoring God’s ability to give them restraint and self-control.

“Christ in you, the hope of glory,” but when we quench the Spirit, that hope’s stifled. If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough fruit of the Spirit in your life to convict you?

The more we surrender to the now Jesus, the more we manifest the nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. Jesus said that Christians are known by their fruit. Is the fruit of the Spirit regularly flowing thru you? (Want more spiritual fruit? Go here.)

[image error]

Too many Christians have been trained for spiritual inaction

Christianity is meant to be implemented, not circumvented by political venting. It has been over-taught and under-implemented. Too many Christians have been trained for spiritual inaction, not for daily obeying the now Jesus. However, God’s grace was never meant to replace Spirit-led action

Grace isn’t a call to Christian inaction. It’s the power to daily obey the now Jesus!

To claim Christianity, but not live by Christian character and principles, is to create a work of fiction. Christianity’s the lifestyle of pursuing righteousness, love and the now Jesus. (See Matthew 6:33.)

Christians with no strategy for obeying the now Jesus, easily get sidetracked. Too often Christianity hasn’t been implemented, but substituted by human strategy. Traditional church tends to focus on proclamation, but ignore Gospel implementation. Too often church is a sermonic lecture that goes unimplemented by the listeners

The Bible’s a handbook for implementation, not a fairy tale for adoration. Biblical Christianity’s not about fans in the stands, but kind boots on the ground.

Here’s an example of information without implementation: People know that Jesus said, “Love your enemies,” and “Bless those who curse you.” Few do it. Kindness is a great idea. Implement Christian kindness today!

The “way” to implement early Christianity is by continual surrender to the now Jesus.

The now Jesus will wow you

Let the ever-present Jesus wow you now. The now Jesus is like the now air, yet we’re often unaware that He’s keeping us alive.

Let the risen Jesus out of the religious past. Free Him from the distant future. Now! You won’t find the now Jesus by rummaging thru the past or hoping for the future. The place to follow the living Jesus isn’t the past or the future. It’s the now.

Jesus–when His story becomes present day reality, not just history, life exudes joy. The reality of Jesus is expressed much better by His presence than by any sermon. To exchange the ceremonial Jesus for the now Jesus is to revolutionize your life.

In a moment, the now Jesus became the focus of my life and has wowed me ever since. I love spending the moments of my life with the now Jesus. Looking to Jesus shouldn’t just be an “end-of-life” measure but our daily joy!

The now Jesus was with me then and will be when, and will be all the nows between. Study the past Jesus and the future Jesus, but love, adore, and obey the now Jesus!

When I was discouraged, the now Jesus kept me going! When I was mistreated, the now Jesus helped me forgive. When I was tormented by guilt and bondage, the now Jesus forgave me and set me free. When sadness tried to consume me, the now Jesus replaced it with joy.

When pride raised me up, the now Jesus showed me my desperate need for His grace. When fear came near, the now Jesus flooded me with hope and peace. When I disagreed with people, the now Jesus gave me heart-felt love for them. What’s the now Jesus done in your life?

The less aware Christians are of the living Jesus, the more we want religious forms. Church (and Christianity) can get boring, if you’re out of touch with the now Jesus. Perhaps the structured-Sunday-morning-Jesus has blurred our vision of the now Jesus. Too many Christians want to hear what Jesus has said to preachers, but not what He is saying to them now.

The now Jesus will disrupt your present. The past Jesus is easier to ignore. How we need the now Jesus today! If Christians would listen to and obey the now Jesus, we’d all be on the same page. When kindness leaves, the now Jesus grieves.

When Christianity is separated from honesty, humility, and holiness, it becomes a show instead of a lifestyle. Grace is empowerment to live a godly lifestyle, not an excuse not to. To be content, continually implement faith.

Wow! The now Jesus is POWerful. He’s my Supernatural Hero! When’s the best time to connect with the now Jesus? Right n _ _. There’s no waiting list to encounter the now Jesus. He’s ready when you are.

Check out my handbook for following the now Jesus.

[image error]

Not the “critical” but the “biblical” view of race.

Skin color doesn’t mean that people are “different” than you. There’s no need to say, “I’m not racist.” If you aren’t it will be noticed.

Many people who loudly proclaim they are fighting evil, are just mirroring it. The evil we most need to overcome is the evil in our own heart. (The most important thing you have is your consciousness and it’s invisible).

This is not critical race theory. It’s the Bible: “You have not followed My ways, but have shown partiality in matters of the law. Do we not all have one Father?” (For biblical views of race, search for: Off the RACE Track–From Color-Blind to Color-Kind.)